12th Doctor Changes - Predictions

So we're probably only a few months from knowing who our new Doctor will be after Matt Smith leaves - but what do YOU think will stay the same? What will change? Are you expecting older, younger, same/similar age? Will Clara hang around for a while or be replaced by someone new? Will the TARDIS control room change again? Will he get a new Sonic screwdriver? Will the new Doctor NOT use a Sonic?

I've been sitting here looking at my 9th/10th Doctor Sonic Screwdriver and my 11th Doctor's Sonic and thinking just how 'aggressive' the 11th's Sonic was - sure it's got a lot more features than the last 2 Doctor's, but do you think the next one will use the same Sonic or will it be revamped again? Maybe a return to a smaller, less aggressive sonic or something maybe a bit more akin to River Song's sonic. I kinda liked that almost trigger guard ring that it had.

I DO see at least a few small changes to the TARDIS control room - honestly I'd like to see a more functional and less "fanciful" TARDIS control room - I mean let's face it, Matt Smith's control rooms really have very little logic - the new one is much more "control room" than that funhouse, random crap control room he had when he got the new TARDIS room.

While I do enjoy the more "Alien" aspects of the Doctor's tech, it would be nice to see more functional looking things, not like a water tank or a desk paper weight being "vital" parts of the control deck.

As for the Doctor himself - I'd sort of like to see at least slightly older - or at least slightly more mature yet still quirky and fun. More driven in terms of actually accomplishing things and being believable as a sort of alien engineer/scientist. One thing I always did like about Eccleston's and Tennant's Doctors was that they were almost like alien anthropologists that studied humanity, enjoyed hanging with them and felt protective of them, but the way they'd step back and go "that's what's great about you humans!" and have this big grin. Matt Smith's... he seemed the most "alien" of all the Doctors really. Like he would have been perfect in the 3rd Rock from the Sun cast lol.

I honestly wouldn't mind seeing a bit of a love triangle form between 12 and Clara and River. I mean I do honestly think that the Doctor has the same kind of fascination and hots for Clara that 10 had for Rose. Like really, he knows he and River are going to be married 'sometime' and that she's totally got the hots for him - but at the same time, I think he really wants to at least spend a lifetime with an Earth girl that challenges and excites and just makes him happy. Since we haven't heard about Clara being replaced yet - I think it's safe to say that she'll be like Rose in that she was the companion for 2 Doctors and two Series with return re-visits - but I do like the idea that she's helped all the other 10 previous Doctors out at some point. I kept hoping she was a regen of a future River - but then again River does sort of work best as an enigma.

I don't know who I want the 12th Doctor to be (not in terms of actor, in terms of personality and behavior), but I do know what I would like narratively.

I want closure to the Moffat era. It's likely to be his final season in the center seat, and I want questions like "Who blew up the TARDIS" answered. I don't want an overarching storyline about the companion. I don't want timey-wimey shenanigans. I want the Doctor to face the problems of his past fresh and put them behind him so that, under the aegis of a new producer, the next Doctor can start his second year free of the detritus of the Moffat era.

I predict the 12th Doctor will be an actor quite a bit older than Smith, probably around the 40yr old mark.

I predict the 12th Doctor will be less quirky than 11 or 10, perhaps more considered and serious, though he'll still be prone to bursts of manic behaviour.

I predict he'll use the same console room, and the same sonic screwdriver, though he'll use it less, I predict Clara will stick around for a year before Jenna's off and I predict the 12th Doctor will never encounter River Song...

Okay, a full list of predictions:
*An older actor: 30s-40s
*Moffat will last one more series
*After Moffat leaves, a new sonic screwdriver will be made. It doesn't even go with the current console anyway, it went with the junkyard TARDIS.
*Clara will stay until either the end of series 8 or the beginning of series 9.
*After Moffats departure, in some point in the twelfth doctors era the TARDIS exterior and interior will change once again.
*After Moffats departure, sometime in the twelfth doctors era a new title sequence, theme, and logo will be used.
*Does Moffat have something against the Master, because we've never seen him since RTDs time. Chances are we'll never see him in Smiths time now, and possibly not the twelfth doctors first series, but soon in the twelfth doctors time, the master will return!
*A more sensible Dalek design after Moffats departure. Maybe we can just revert back to the RTD daleks at last.

In fact, i do remember seeing an interview with Moffat, in which he, asked about it, said that the Master does not interest him that much as a villain, problem is i do not remember the specifics nor where exactly i saw it.

I dunno about the Sonic looking like it went more with the 'junkyard' theme TARDIS, although I could see its next iteration being maybe a bit more silver. I do like the gold but the extending claws are sort of... I dunno I mean, it's supposed to signify that its doing something 'special' but I wouldn't mind it being more silver and white again - maybe like a mesh of the 10th and 11th's screwdrivers. Although I dunno if the next Doctor will use it less, but I'd like to see it have more 'control' surfaces on it though. I mean, both 10 and 11 have turned it on the side and looked at it and rattled off readings or settings or something and clearly when you look at the toys and even the screen prop, there's nothing really there - unless they're saying it's more of a quasi telepathic connection.

I think 11 was far more telepathic than 10 - both with is connection to his tech and with other people. I don't recall any of the previous Doctors doing like the 'head smack' memory transfer thing.

I kinda wouldn't mind seeing more of that, maybe him actually using other 'Time Lord abilities' would be neat - after all, he IS an alien from a highly advanced race and incredibly intelligent. So maybe character-wise I wouldn't mind seeing someone a bit older - since it seems like they were writing Smith as if he was a much older actor - so maybe 40s - is there like a British Robert Downey Jr. type? LOL - someone charismatic and quirky yet still mature when he needs to be.

I'm taking a wild stab here at the new Doctor's 'look' I'm thinking maybe a return to a more casual daily wardrobe - not quite as casual as 9, but I'm thinking maybe an oxford, vest, chino slacks and a duster jacket - I do like the look of the long coat that 10 and 11 have been wearing - looks cool when they run.

The new Doctor's look very much depends on who they cast, I don't think you can foist a look on an actor, Moffat's 'pirate' outfit by all accounts looked terrible on Smith, for him the scatty professor look (at least initially) was perfect. Just try and imagine Ten dressed as Nine and Nine dressed as Ten, wouldn't have worked.

I think they've spent far too much money on the new TARDIS interior & opening title sequence to change them again now. I think they, and Clara, will at least be around through Season 8. Unless Clara somehow doesn't survive the next 2 specials at all.

And, personally, I'm not sure there will ever be a better time to do a female Doctor. I mean, there's been kind of a logical progression in personalities from Paul McGann through Matt Smith. But Smith took it about as far as you can take that. I think the 12th Doctor will be a radical departure in some dimension or another. Might as well test the gender change while you're at it.

I imagine they could easily swap out Smith's face with that of the new Doctor. That's what they did when Peter Davison replaced Tom Baker. They'd just gone to all the trouble to come up with a new opening title concept. They weren't going to ditch it just because the lead actor changed.

Frankly, there have been so many changes in the last half season, I'd like it if some of them stuck around a little longer for me to get used to them, even if Smith won't stay. (I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around that. I was convinced he'd at least stay for Season 8. )

Well yeah I was expecting at LEAST one more series - if not a 10th Doctor like "movie" set if they didn't want to do a whole 12 episodes - just a few basically 2 part episodes they do as one offs.

I mean they did give him a new TARDIS control room, a new companion and even some new-ish supporting cast with Lady Sherlock (I know its not her name but that's what I call her!) Jenny and Strax. Given that we saw them in 3 out of the 12 episodes of this season I'd say that they were key supporting cast.

I would just hate for the new guy to have to mimic too much of 11's mannerisms and wardrobe and such just because writers may have written those stories for 11 not 12. I do hope we've seen the end of the Doctor telling people to Shut Up. Once in a while... okay. But he says it like once an episode. And the whole 'I wear this now, this is cool' thing... and not really getting what 'cool' is. I'd love to hear 12 go

The 11's is kinda growing on me - it's got a lot going on with it and it just looks pretty coo. Although honestly I do like the 9th/10th Doctor's sonic - it's simple looking yet appropriately alien-ish and futuristic. Looks almost like a fancy flashlight at first blush so no one really pays it much mind. The 11's looks far more 'tool' like with the 3 different grip surfaces, the polished ceramic looking bottom, the leather bound ergo grip and then the ribbed claw part. Plus it actually moves a bit more, so its like a TOS/Ent era Star Trek communicator or even the nuTrek movie phasers that flip around for stun and kill. It does something even when its not making noise or lighting up.

I like both the modern sonics compared to the 'classic' sonics that really only made noise or had to use SFX to look like they're working. Really it was smart of the prop guys to make the new sonics light up and have moving parts to make it seem like its doing different things. Like the 10th's raising and lowering head piece and 11's raising claws.

Although I think the sonic cane, maybe redone slightly could be kinda cool to see make a more regular come back. But I would kinda like something that has some neat details, maybe more of that Time Lord 'circles' motif like on the Doctor's fob watch. More textured, but also with a few movable elements. We've had claws and we've had a raising head, be interesting if it could extend a bit more, not like a light saber mind you but sort of like work like a billy club.

I always sort of thought it'd be frickin' funny to see the Doctor whack someone over the head with the sonic - especially Smith's - but the 11's sonic seems so delicate that if you did whack someone over the head with it, that thing would break!

"Doctor you hit him! Did you do something neat and sonic with it?"

"No I just hit him on the head... should be passed out... " uses the sonic to scan him. "For at least a few minutes. Now run!"

Honestly I'd like to see 12 be a bit more... I hate to say it but... a bit more Batman, James Bond, Supafly and Kung Fu all put together.